Atletico Madrid and Barcelona fittingly have Wednesday in Spanish football all to themselves for the return leg of their Copa del Rey quarterfinal. All eyes will be on Vicente Calderon Stadium, where visiting Barcelona bring a 1-0 advantage.

The other three return legs are on Thursday, when Espanyol take a 3-1 lead into Sevilla, Villarreal go to Getafe 1-0 up, and Athletic Bilbao and Malaga start without a goal yet.

After romping past Elche 6-0 in the league, Barcelona are on a six-match winning streak in all competitions, and still on course for a treble. Coach Luis Enrique is expected to field a strong attacking lineup including Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez against Atletico.

“I’m at my best moment with Barcelona,” Neymar says. “I carry on growing and having more to do at the club. I want titles and many more things.” Last season, Barcelona lost in the Copa final to Real Madrid. This time Atletico knocked out Real in the previous round.

Atletico coach Diego Simeone has to decide whether to make the unpopular choice of benching striker Fernando Torres, who scored twice against Real, in favour of the in-form attacking duo of Mario Mandzukic and Antoine Griezmann.

Also, they will be without key defender Diego Godin, who is suspended. Whatever Simeone’s decisions, the team back him. “Everyone knows Simeone, and they know how he loves the games and how he prepares them, always to win,” defender Jose Maria Gimenez said. “That’s the energy he gives us, that winning energy.”

Atletico have won only two of their last five matches. They come off a 3-1 win against crosstown rival Rayo Vallecano, but have lost their last two games against Barcelona.

Meanwhile, Eager to fill their Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Thursday, Sevilla exhorted their fans to support the team and offered members tickets at $5.70.

Queues formed around the stadium on Monday. Sevilla will be without defensive midfielder Grzegorz Krychowiak, who has a ligament injury to his left ankle.

Athletic Bilbao and Malaga ought to be getting sick of each other: This will be their third consecutive game. Athletic drew 1-1 against Malaga at San Mames Stadium in the league at the weekend.

During the previous matches, both teams defended staunchly and tried to break their opponents down at set-pieces or on the counterattack.

‘Ronaldo should be banned’

Barcelona striker Neymar said players are often provoked, but must expect punishment if they retaliate as Cristiano Ronaldo did during Real Madrid’s 2-1 win at Cordoba. Ronaldo was sent off on a straight red card for kicking defender Edimar inside Cordoba’s penalty area. Ronaldo apologised on his Twitter account saying, “I ask forgiveness from everyone, especially Edimar, for my thoughtless act.”

Neymar said: “Those of us playing as forwards are exposed to provocations and intimidation and sometimes you lose your nerve. It’s clear we cannot do that under any circumstances. He must be punished because of the aggression.”

If Ronaldo is given a three-match ban, he will miss scheduled matches against Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid and a postponed round-16 match against Sevilla.